Global Blue

Global Blue

Type	Privately held
Founded	1980
Founders	Alf Näslund
Headquarters	Eysins, Switzerland
Key people	Christian Lucas (Chairman), Jacques Stern (CEO)
Products	VAT/GST refunds, dynamic currency conversion, POS and retail technologies, customer intelligence, marketing services and publications, training and education, consultancy
Number of employees	+1,700
Website	www.globalblue.com

Global Blue is a tourism shopping tax refund company headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland. The company is best known for tax-free shopping, a VAT/GST refund product and also operates in dynamic currency conversion, marketing services, point-of-sale technology, retail staff education, and customer intelligence. As of 2014, some 130 countries levy VAT/GST, about 50 offer to refund VAT/GST to tourists for private exports.

Started in Sweden in 1980 tax-free shopping is about refunding the VAT/GST levied in normal stores on the high street to non-resident visitors who will privately export the goods purchased, according to the legislation in the European Union and other countries; tax-free shopping is not to be confused with duty-free, which started in Ireland in 1947 and relates to specific stores (most often located in travel-related environments such as airports) that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties.

Founded as Sweden Tax Free Shopping, the company later became Europe Tax Free Shopping and then Global Refund in 1998. Global Refund moved headquarters from Kungsbacka, near Gothenburg in Sweden, to Nyon, in the Lake Geneva area, in 2001 for a more central position in Europe to manage its business then gone global but with a strong merchant customer base in European tourist destination countries. In 2007, the company was acquired by Equistone Partners Europe (at the time Barclays Private Equity). Previously operating the two brands Tax Free Shopping and First Currency Choice, Global Refund completed its repositioning, product diversification and rebranding as Global Blue in 2010.